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Openings

LOS ANGELES, CA — Landmark Theatres has announced a June 1st opening date for the new 12 plex in West Los Angeles' Westside Pavilion. Also, they may be closing the existing 4-Plex in the opposite side of the mall this weekend. On the website it indicates all films currently showing end this Sunday, March 25th.

I stumbled upon your website tonight and I’ve found it very interesting. It’s nice to know that some of these old theaters are being preserved, if not physically, at least through memories. I have some unfortunate news about the Stargate Twin Theater in Rapid City, SD.

I have lived in Rapid City all of my life so I can give you a brief history of the theater for you to post on your site, but before I do I must tell you that the theater has been closed since January 1st. The signs have disappeared and the windows have been covered with white paper. I read an article in our local newspaper that the company that owns the Stargate could not come to an agreement with the people who lease them the theater. Apparently they wanted a lot more then what the Stargate could afford.

Apparently before they closed up they took out everything including all of the seats in both theaters. The theater will probably be torn out as easily as possible (considering it’s located in a shopping center which will not be torn down) and replaced with a retail store.

EFFINGHAM, IL — Very good news as this unique theater gets another chance. Minor improvements aside, the theater should maintain its heritage.

The Heart Theatre, which closed a little over a month ago, won’t miss a beat as it is re-opening Friday.

Rod Wiethop, Heart Theatre manager, said theater owner Mark McSparin, who owns several other theaters and a drive-in, has decided to keep the theater in operation since it is “an integral part of the downtown area.”

Wiethop and his wife, Judy, who managed the theater under previous lessee, Chuck Zweck, will run the day-to-day operations.

GUTTENBERG, NJ — $5 tickets and a pipe organ aren’t enough to save the Galaxy Triplex. After 30 years of service, the theater is folding due to attendance not paying for its rent.

Galaxy Mall owner Martin Sergi said that the theater is a victim of flagging attendance – a trend in the industry.

“Unfortunately, the neighborhood theater is more behind us than ahead of us,” Sergi said. “We supported it for as long as possible, but we couldn’t do it any longer.” The 17,000-square-foot theater will be converted to offices, he said.

WAUKEGAN, IL — The former largest theater in America, the Lakehurst Cinema, will be torn down for a hotel. Plans to get rid of it sped up when numerous fire code violations were recently reported.

The Lakehurst Cinema, which was briefly the king of the multiplex world when it featured 12 screens in 1987, has locked the doors as plans move forward to build a Holiday Inn Express on the Waukegan Road site.

“We received a complaint regarding the heat. People told us there was no heat in one of the theaters,” Jurkovac said. “So we went out there right away with the fire department, and it turned out there was more than just no heat.”

VINEYARD HAVEN, MA — After being shuttered for two years, the nearly hundred year old Capawock Theatre has resumed normal operations.

It was a sight unseen for the last two years on Main street, Vineyard Haven: the easy conversation amongst friends standing outside the Capawock theatre after a movie, bathed in the yellow light of the old-fashioned building with green and red trim.

The re-opening of the movie theatre on Wednesday night was ample reason to celebrate. Downtown residents delighted in walking to the movies again instead of driving. Business owners revelled in seeing life on the streets after 9 p.m.

All rejoiced in the return of the theatre whose distinctive quirkiness was not lost in the new paint and upholstery. Few cared what movie was playing, so much as there was one.

BRIDGEVILLE, PA — The Star City Cinemas reopened Friday Nov. 10, 2006 under a new name, Screenworks, and is now a bargain movie theater.

As a bargain house, the South Fayette theater will show movies weeks after they open elsewhere. The initial selection, for instance, includes “All the King’s Men” and “The Gridiron Gang,” along with “World Trade Center,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”

Doors will open at 12:30 p.m., and the movie start times today are staggered from 1 to 2 p.m.

CHELTENHAM, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK — The former Gaumont Palace cinema, latterly the Odeon Cheltenham, closed down permanently on 5th November 2006.

The cinema opened in 1933 and had a long history of live music performances as well as film. In the 1970’s, as with most Odeons, the single auditorium was triplexed and subsequently awkwardly sub-divided still further into seven screens.

Despite this, it struggled to remain competitive and, in the wake of the opening of the nearby Cineworld multiplex, staff were given just thirty days to revive its fortunes or face closure.